This invention relates to devices for the paving of roads and, more particularly, to a device for applying asphaltic material to a road surface or to the shoulder thereof.
Spreader boxes have long been used to resurface roads with asphaltic material or to spread crushed stone or other aggregrate. Such spreader boxes, as for example, those described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,186,081, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,403,820, are generally towed behind a dump truck so that the material to be spread can fall from the dump body into the spreader box and then be spread in a layer that is substantially as wide or wider than the dump body and whose thickness is defined by the height of the bottom of the rear wall of the spreader box above the pre-existing surface. Such spreader boxes provide an efficient means for resurfacing wide stretches of deteriorated road. However, small areas of a roadway, and particularly the edges thereof, often require repair before general resurfacing is called for. Spreader boxes of the type described above are not well suited for the repair of such limited areas of deterioration.
Side delivery conveyors have also been in general use for some time. Such conveyors use endless belts or augers to move material from a dump truck laterally for deposit to one side of the truck's direction of travel. A side delivery conveyor may be used by itself to spread crushed stone or other loose material along the shoulder of a road. However, such a conveyor simply allows the material to fall to the ground and thus cannot, by itself, deposit material in a smooth strip of uniform width, as is required to pave or repair the shoulder of a road with "cold mix" or other asphaltic material. As a result, the paving or repair of a road shoulder normally requires a crew of men with shovels and rakes to lay asphaltic material.